The successful Ice Age franchise has proved animations with a pre-historic edge appeal to kids, although that's hardly news to those of us who remember The Flintstones. DreamWorks Animations has given this a fresh twist, and kids can expand on their paleontological knowledge by getting to know the first modern family, the Croods.
Aptly pronounced as Crudes, this sloping headed family of hunter-gatherers live in a cave, only venturing out in daylight when they need food.
The Crood family motto is "never not be afraid", something their leader and dad, Grug (Cage), is very big on.
The opening sequence of a family breakfast hunt is enough to win over both parents and kids. Crouched on all fours, the Croods tackle this mission like playing a game of gridiron, everyone has a role to play and when one family member goes down another takes over, even Granny pitches in. And potential prey should worry when the cry goes up: "Release the baby!'
Eep (Stone) is the eldest of the three children and the centre of the story. Unlike her father, Eep has natural curiosity about the world and this leads her to meet Guy (Reynolds), a more evolved human who tells her the world is coming to an end. When an earthquake destroys the Croods' family cave the family is forced out of their comfort zone, and follow Guy on his journey to a safer place.
